The Top 5 SEO Mistakes That Every Business Should Avoid
Organic traffic typically makes up 60 - 70% of a sites traffic and tends to be the highest converting form of traffic. Here's the top 5 SEO mistakes to avoid hurting your business's Search Engine Rankings or losing your organic traffic.
First of all, we want to commend you for actually thinking about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It’s not sexy, or fun (unless you’re nerds like us). It’s not easy to understand, there’s math and research and…ok, we see your eyes glaze over. But SEO tweaks work. They work to generate more traffic to your website and therefore, more revenue.
A research firm called Sistrix recently did a study of billions of Google search results. They found that 28.5% of people searching for a term on Google click on the very first organic result. The 10th result on the page had only a 2.5% click rate.
The importance of this study cannot be overstated. It means that a potential customer or client is 10 times more likely to buy from a company that is on the first page of Google than they are to research customer reviews. There seems to be an assumption that the first option is the best option, and very few people have the time to do a deep dive into consumer reports.
So, let’s get to it the meaty bits here:
SEO is a powerful tool that can be used incorrectly.
It can throw people off track, confuse people, and invite the wrong kind of business or client into your life. We’ll unpack this now.
Mistake #1: Stuffing your Meta Keywords
Meta descriptions appear below your listing in a Search Engine and are best used to encourage clicks. This means, write them for the people searching, not for search engines. Gone are the days of term - term - term - term….this is boring for people, and not eye-catching.
For example, consider the difference between these two meta descriptions for a fancy sock company:
Description 1: Socks - fancy - warm - socks - family - unique - colorful - playful - whacky - dress - formal - cottage - socks- vacation - boardroom - business
Description 2:
Fancy socks to dress up your business attire, or warmer options for your cottage or vacation. Make a statement or give a unique gift to someone special!
The first description can actually get you penalized by Google algorithms: it uses the keyword three times in the meta description. Just give an overview, use enticing descriptive copy, and write for the customer, not a robot!
Mistake #2: Using Content Exclusively Generated By AI
Artificially created website content (there are various AI copy generating apps online) are not inherently negative. In truth, they are also improving all the time. BUT: AI text generators rely on statistical patterns. While some content follows predictable structures, such as FAQ chat posts and simple report inquiries, AI has not developed to the extent that it can discern natural language. You need a human writer to convey the actual meaning of words and sentences. Oh, and add a little personality here and there for readability!
Publish engaging, thought-leadership style articles and people can tell the difference. Be authentic and invest your time in writing good content! If you’re not a writer, find one of the many websites online such as Upwork or Elance which offer writing and copy-editing services.
Mistake #3: Duplicating Content On Your Site
Repeating the exact same content over and over again on your site confuses your users as well as search engines. If a search engine can’t decide which content is the original,
all of it will take a hit in the rankings.
More importantly, your conversion rates will crash. Your users don’t want to read the same thing over and over again on your site. User experience will suffer greatly, and people will click away from your web pages out of sheer boredom and frustration.
Google sees the duplication of site content as a lack of effort, and in some cases, as plagiarism. Make it a point to write new content and to write it well!
Mistake #4: Buying Backlinks
Buying backlinks, for those who don’t know, is the all-too common practice of paying to have your website link appear on another website: usually a directory or coupon site, etc.
There are 3 main reasons not to buy backlinks:
One: You’re almost definitely wasting money.
Buying clicks from sites like directories or forums will have little to no real impact on your rankings. Google is able to identify quality links from links that come from sites without any real traffic. Plus if you're buying links a lot of times you're dealing with spamier sites that actually hurt your rankings.
Two: Link purchasing is directly against Google Webmaster Guidelines. In fact, buying backlinks can result in the dreaded Manual Penalty. In fact Google placed even more emphasis on weeding out what they consider spammy backlink profiles on sites with their core algorithm updates at the beginning of 2022. This can cause dramatic drops in your search rankings or even your site being completely removed from Google!
Mistake #5: Using misleading or sensationalized headlines!
Facebook and Google both identify phrases commonly used in clickbait style headlines, such as FREE, or WIN, etc. Links posted from sites or pages that consistently use clickbait headlines appear lower in the newsfeed and search listings.
Even worse, this type of headline diminishes trust with your audience. People are getting used to this type of approach and it is resulting in lower traffic totals. The assumption is that nothing is really free, they will wind up getting spammed if they provide their email just to enter a draw, and the overall experience they have with your brand will be hella negative.
Clickbait headlines also tend to result in higher bounce rates and a poor user experience which hurts your overall brand image.
The SEO Takeaway:
Good marketing is only a mystery if you do NOT think about your potential customers as if they were actual, intelligent, busy people. You can’t capture attention and interest with sales copy anymore. You need to build a solid audience by providing high quality content. Who are the people you are selling to? Are you helping them with a problem? How are you helping them? What is your area of expertise? Tweaking your SEO is important, but only when you have a grounded, compassionate way of communicating respectfully to your expanding audience. Niche down, solve a problem, and do it with grace and style.
And then test and tweak away until you have mastered the art of Search Engine Optimization!
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